135 down. 27 to go.

Chad Billingsley is not related to Barbara Billingsley, so far as I know, but Mrs. Cleaver's namesake certainly knows how to make mincemeat out of los Gigantes. Looking at it objectively, our boys got one-hit tonight, and they were lucky the hit came with two runners in scoring position, or they may have been shut out too. Another Friday night, another wasted Padres loss. We simply can't expect the Fathers to continue to deteriorate. We need to win some games in big chunks. Now is the time, if there ever were one. Would've been nice to start the roadie off with a W, but every now and again, each of us runs into our own personal Chad Billingsleys. For some of us, it's the DMV, for others, the IRS, and for some unlucky souls, it's a local parking attendant. For the Giants pitching staff, it's Rod Barajas. But the secret to success does not consist of regret. It requires a short memory, a stout spirit, and a hang loose attitude. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this team has all of that in spades. And since I know that — win or lose — they have the heart of a champion, I believe the boys will rebound tonight and lay waste to Los Angeles, particularly Casey Blake, who is quite the douche bag. They better, 'cause I'm cutting my band rehearsal short to make it home in time for first pitch.

BTW...

> Andres Torres looked straight up lost out there last night, but he wasn't alone. Didn't seem like anybody had a clue aside from Busta Posey, who added to his ROY resume with a clutch two-run knock, and Pat Burrell, who walked twice. (It would've been thrice were it not for a few questionable strike calls.) Back to the point: A.T. is in a bit of a slump, and the offensive engine don't work without the spark plug...

>  Jose Guillen. Yikes. Dude got screwed on a called third strike that was, well, not a strike. But he may have been thinking about what could've been a shoestring catch on Billingsley's two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the 4th. Bottom line: even if Zito gets out of that inning — which he probably didn't deserve to do — the offense still had to get another run, and they looked woefully incapable of delivering.

> What's up, Barry? You usually start out like shit and go lights out in the second half. This year seems like you're going in reverse. Not cool, dude. We need you down the stretch. Nice effort from the bullpen. Four shutout innings with very little trouble, ahem, Santiago Casilla, ahem...

Round two. #BeatLA!

95 down. 67 to go.

And then, there was a dud. For all the resilience the 2010 team has shown in peeling themselves off the mat following heartbreaking losses — particularly Monday night in L.A. — they sure seem to lack the killer instinct of a championship-caliber club. Five out of 11 times this season, the Giants have failed to complete a series sweep. And while you can flip the script and say they've been successful in more than 50% of those situations — twice against the lowly Astros — those five failures could loom large on October 3rd, especially because many of them were winnable contests against low-end starters. That's not to say that Chad Billingsley isn't worth his salt — indeed, he also shut out the G-Men back in July of '08 — but the Doyers as a team were reeling, the Giants were rolling, and this was a perfect time to put a foot on their throat and step down hard. Instead, yours truly and the rest of Giants Nation wasted two and a half hours watching a re-run we can't seem to escape, and even a resurgent Pablo Sandoval couldn't save the day this time. Of course, we could chalk it up to the Curse of the Unicorn since The Other Barry is not exactly a magnet for run support. Me? I'm putting on a lack of focus. It's always been apparent with individual players like Dirty Sanchez and Panda, but now it seems to be affecting the whole team. Hence, a roller coaster season of streaks. If this team wants to compete in October, they need to iron out the inconsistencies and start bringing their A mentality — if not their A game — on a daily basis. That is all.

Hangovers & Hated Ones

It’s okay, Chicken Little! You can put away the noose! The sky isn’t really falling... yet.

Monday, August 10th
Hated Ones 4, Giants 2
WP: Kuroda (5-5); LP: J. Sanchez (5-10); S: Broxton (25)
HR: SF - Ishikawa (8); Molina (14)

One pitch. That’s all it takes to ruin a pitcher’s day.

Jonathan Sanchez threw that pitch to Matt Kemp in the top of the fourth, and Kemp cleared the sacks. That J. Sanchez survived to pitch a stellar fifth is testament to his newfound confidence. But for one inning, it was the Sanchy we all know and try to love: teetering on the brink of a full-on physical and mental breakdown.

One inning. That’s all it takes.

To all the squakboxes who like to quack about the Giants’ lack of pop: They’ve been putting on a power display of late, and how much do they have to show for it? I love watching Ishi and Bengie go deep as much as the next guy — a bit more seeing as how they’re on my fantasy team. But if Fred Lewis — or anybody, for that matter — is on base at the time, a home run is a lot more effective.

In a bit of news that’s hard to categorize, the Hated Ones announced No. 1 starter Chad “Barbara” Billingsley will miss at least one start with a sore leggy-poo and be replaced this turn by journeyman a-hole Jeff Weaver. Here’s hoping Chad’s got some good painkillers and that he’s out for a wee bit longer than anticipated, and also that someone talks a little s**t to Weaver during Wednesday’s game.

Oh yeah, stay hot Eugenio Velez.

Stat of the Night (Road team edition)

The Dodgers’ 31-12 record against the N.L. West this season is the best intra-division mark in the Show.

Quote of the Night

"This is not the way you want to start a series but it's not desperation time. We need to relax and play our game." - Bruce Bochy, Zen Master

Tuesday, August 11th
Hated Ones 9, Giants 1
WP: Wolf (6-6); LP: Martinez (2-1)
HR: LA - Ramirez (13); Kemp (16)

One play. That’s all it takes to turn the momentum of a game.

I’m sitting here, still thinking about it. If he’d let it go through, Velez would’ve grabbed the ball right on the bag and had an easy turn of two. Instead, he made a circus play that would’ve made it to the top of the Web Gems... had he not knuckled one to Gino, who conveniently dropped the dime. And the Boys of Summer were off and rolling again.

You have to feel for Joe Martinez. He was acting on instinct, and he made a tremendous play. But as he knows all too well, the game can be cruel. And so can Manny Ramirez. Seriously, when Casey Blake is “defending” him in the five hole, why would anyone pitch to this guy?

Speaking of ManRam... Don’t know if anyone else noticed, but there was a pretty thick cloud hanging over the Cove on Tuesday night, and it wasn’t the “marine layer”. For years, we learned to live with our own embarrassment of a left fielder because he was our embarrassment and when you strip away all the hype and the dope, he was still the greatest hitter many of us have ever seen live. We heard the Think Blue Mafia chant “Bar-roid” and “Barry Sucks” — even when Bonds wasn’t playing! They booed him, they taunted him, and through it all, we defended him because he was electric.

Pot, meet kettle.

Btw, I have to admit, I couldn’t deal in the 7th. The mediocrity was simply too much to take. The fact that it was coming from Brandon Medders made less sense than the endless string of hits he allowed. This guy has dealt all year, but for one inning, he looked like garbage. But one inning is all it takes, sometimes.

Stat of the Night

Eugenio “Babe” Velez’s 16-game hitting streak ended with an 0-for-3, but he made the most productive of the Giants 27 outs, driving in Fred Lewis with a 3rd-inning groundout. He had one last chance to collect a knock in the 8th, but he was hit by a pitch that first bounced in the dirt. During the streak, Velez hit .420 (29-for-69) with three homers and 11 RBIs. It was the Giants' second-longest streak of the season, trailing only a 17-game run by Aaron Rowand.

Wednesday, August 12th
Giants 4, Hated Ones 2 (10)
WP: Wilson (4-5); LP: Mota (3-4)
HR: SF - Uribe (5)

You always hear the cliché when someone’s talking about another sport: “You don’t want the refs deciding the game.” Kobe says it about basketball. Mike Nolan used to bitch about it in (American) football. And just this week, Tiger mouthed off about the officials at a golf tournament. Read that last sentence again, and bear in mind Mr. Woods won the match.

My point is, you don’t often hear that excuse in baseball. Because 99.9% of the time, umpires effectively render themselves invisible. Think about the sheer number of calls made by a four-man crew over the course of a single game. Now think about how often you actually see a call worth questioning, even after rewinding and replaying your DVR recording of the play at least fifty times at six different speeds.

That said, the umpires almost gave this one to the Hated Ones, and luckily I’m not an employee of MLB or any of its franchises, so I can say that without getting fined. On no less than three separate occasions, this crew absolutely and unequivocally blew the call.

The first time, it cost the Giants a rally. The final time, it cost Tim Lincecum a complete game victory and on any given Wednesday could have cost the Giants the game. The time in between, it added insult to injury after one of the scrappier tiffs this rivalry has produced of late. It got so bad out there, the Giants had their manager ejected... twice. (That has to be a first for Ron Wotus. I’ll have the research team check it out.)

A quick note on the bench-clearing petting zoo: Russell Martin doesn’t have to prove how hard he is. He’s a Major League catcher. That should be enough. Instead, he had to wave his d**k around in Panda’s face, and Panda didn’t do nothin’ to nobody. So back off, Junior, or you’re goin’ on the list right under Casey Blake.

And now a note or two about the baseball:

Redemption, like revenge, is a dish that is best served cold, and it tasted awfully sweet when Juan Uribe lit up Guillermo Mota on an 10th inning 0-2 mistake to send everybody home googly eyed and grinning. In a lot of ways, it had to be Juan Uribe.

This is the same Juan Uribe who left seven men on base earlier in the game. The same Juan Uribe who fouled off a hanging Mota breaking ball earlier in the same AB. The same Juan Uribe who made what could have been a costly an error on an easy bloop in the top of the inning.

Looking back at this semi-disastrous homestand and taking into account the Giants’ position in the playoff race, this was a huge moment. Biggest of the season. The lead was blown, but the Giants were still alive. Still alive in the Wild Card. Still alive in the West. Brian Wilson just laid down the law with four strikeouts. If something was going to happen, it had to happen soon. As in now.

This was a must-win game before the first pitch, but it became an absolutely positively have to win or you can kiss your season goodbye kinduva game right around the time Uribe rounded third and everybody took a moment to think about what we would’ve been facing if the Hated Ones prevailed... Swept by the rivals at home, headed on a brutal 11-game trip, to the East Coast, in the dog days.

I felt these same emotions surging through my bloodstream once before this season. It was a warm May night in Seattle. Call this movie Unlikely Hero Redux.

P.S. Anybody get goose bumps when Wilson struck out Casey Blake to start the 10th? Much better revenge than plunking him. And just think, if they’d won this in nine, we would’ve missed a classic AB.

Stat of the Day

Before Freddy Sanchez’s RBI single in the fifth, the Giants had been 0-for-14 with RISP in the series. They were a whopping 1-for-18 by the end of it.

Quote of the Day

"I was worried about running out of managers today." - Bruce Bochy, who was ejected in the second inning (Interim manager and Bench Coach Ron Wotus was ejected in the ninth.)

Series debrief

Giants pitching shut down their rivals’ offense for 22 innings over the three-game series. In the other five innings, the San Francisco staff allowed 15 runs — 13 in three innings through the first two games.

The big inning has been a Giant killer all year, and the Hated Ones are built for crooked numbers. Their lineup is solid from top to bottom, and they jump on every mistake you make and every gift you hand out.

The Giants were far too generous with their charity in the opening two games, but no one can fault their valiant performance against a 13-man squad on Wednesday. Sure, you need to score with the bases loaded and nobody out, but it’s hard to complain about some good ol’ fashioned drama as evidenced at 24 Willie Mays Plaza this week.

I could tell you guys were into it. Wanna know how? Because I still heard you cheering in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night:

“Beat L-A! Beat L-A!”